Dorn's career night leads Pack past Mountaineers in season opener

Dorn's career night leads Pack past Mountaineers in season opener

RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) – The NC State men’s basketball team dominated the second half to break away from Mount St. Mary’s and defeat the Mountaineers, 105-55, in the Pack’s season-opener Tuesday night at PNC Arena.

NC State (1-0) was led by redshirt senior Torin Dorn, who tallied a career-high 28 points off of 10 made field goals on the night. Markell Johnson was the Pack’s second-leading scorer with 17 points, and C.J. Bryce (16 points) and Devon Daniels (10 points) joined them in double figures.

NC State led by 10 at the half, 40-30, and the lead was still 10, 51-41, five minutes into the final period. From that point, the Pack outscored Mount St. Mary’s 54-14, closing the game in commanding fashion.

The Wolfpack dominated in the paint, outscoring the Mountaineers 52-26 in that category and collecting 52 rebounds on the night.

Freshmen Jericole Hellems (3 points) and Ian Steere (4 points) each tallied the first collegiate points of their careers.

The Mountaineers took an early 4-2 lead, their only lead of the outing, before the Pack responded with a 9-0 run. Mount St. Mary’s drew things even on one other occasion in the early stages of the opening period, but NC State separated itself over the final seven minutes of the first half as the Pack scored 12 of its final 15 points of the half in the paint.

NC State came out of the break hot, hitting seven of its first 11 shots to open the second half.

From the 12:25 mark to the 7:07 mark of the second period, NC State held Mount St. Mary’s to a single basket while scoring eight field goals of its own to take a 77-48 lead. The Wolfpack ended the final 12:25 of the matchup outscoring the Mountaineers by a total of 46-9 as it went on to hit triple digits for the fourth time under head coach Kevin Keatts.

Next up, the Pack is scheduled to host the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks on Saturday, Nov. 10. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. inside PNC Arena, and the game will be broadcast on Regional Sports Networks.